Affirmative fair housing marketing plan 2023

Updating Your Affirmative Fair Housing Marketing Plan

Unlike maintenance issues and EIV, your property’s marketing plan might not be an aspect of operation you necessarily think about on a daily basis. However, it is critical for owners to ensure their staff is marketing available HUD units to attract persons who are least likely to apply. Did you know your Affirmative Fair Housing Marketing Plan (AFHMP, Form HUD-935.2A) must be reviewed every 5 years for applicability? Did you know HUD recently updated the form to require owners to capture more demographic information and provide proof of advertising and Fair Housing training efforts within the plan?

Table of Contents Show

Updating Your Affirmative Fair Housing Marketing Plan
What is the Purpose of Affirmative Fair Housing?
Who has to Complete an AFHMP?
Final Words

Have your applicant demographics changed as a result of population growth in your surrounding area? Have you been asked to modify marketing and advertising methods due to budgetary constraints? Has your property undergone an ownership or management agent change? If you answered “yes” to any of these questions, you are required to review and update your AFHMP accordingly.

PMCS is equipped to perform the necessary demographic research and marketing assessment to assist affordable housing owners in updating their AFHMP appropriately to ensure compliance.

Don’t be caught off guard with an outdated marketing plan for your property! Call PMCS today to discuss our AFHMP update and review services and scratch that task off your “To-Do List”!

The federal government is responsible for enforcing fair housing laws, and in some states, the state government protects these laws as well. Affirmative Fair Housing Marketing Plan (AFHMP) is federal and state governments cooperation to promote fair housing. The goal is to reduce segregation and encourage integration in housing by promoting housing choice and opportunities regardless of one’s protected characteristics under federal and state fair housing laws.

What is the Purpose of Affirmative Fair Housing?

The Affirmative Fair Housing Marketing Plan is a document that helps clarify the purpose of your marketing efforts and internal policies. It helps you identify the areas you intend to target with fair housing marketing, to provide an umbrella of fair housing marketing compliance, and to identify the specific goals of your fair housing marketing program.

Affirmative Fair Housing Marketing Plans (AFHMPs) is a series of programs that help communities identify and target persons whose representation in the housing market makes them less likely to apply for affordable housing opportunities. AFHMPs also aim to make such persons aware of available affordable housing opportunities through a combination of marketing and outreach activities.

Affirmative Fair Housing Marketing Plan includes a ban on steering or exclusions (which includes showing only certain homes to individuals based on protected status or displaying discriminatory ads or statements on rental applications). It also includes a requirement that the marketing plan is made available to the public and notification to the HUD Secretary. The AFHMP must also include training for agents, educational material, and a complaint process. The plan also calls for HUD to require that certain practices are adopted to ensure compliance.

Who has to Complete an AFHMP?

Affirmative Fair Housing Marketing Plan must be completed by landlords and property managers as a condition of receiving Fair Housing Act (FHA) or state-sponsored housing assistance. FHA programs offer funding for fair housing practices to promote integrated communities. However, many landlords and property managers do not know how to complete an Affirmative Fair Housing Marketing Plan, leading to unintentional segregation.

There are few things that tend to make a property more desirable than a good marketing plan, and Affirmative Fair Housing Marketing Plans are among them. If you are a developer or a sponsor, and you want to send a message that you are committed to fair housing and open to those who may not have it so easy, an AFHMP is a great way to do that.

Final Words

The AFHMP is a proactive, integrated marketing plan designed to ensure compliance with federal and state fair housing laws and preserve the values of the Fair Housing Act and the Fair Housing Initiatives Program. By incorporating these best practices into our plan we can ensure we are promoting housing choice, and creating an inclusive environment that meets the needs of everyone.